HIGHLIGHTS
- Many workers in the arts industry including musicians, technicians and promoters do not qualify for government support, despite losing significant income
- They want to expand Jobkeeper to include gig or contract musicians and extend the time frame for payment access beyond September
- They are also proposing the establishment a $345 million dollar live performance industry recovery package, including a $40 million recovery fund, extra Australia Council funding, and tax offsets for live music venues
In an open letter to the Morrison government, artists want the JobKeeper payment to be extended to the arts sector, as well as extra funding for the industry's long-term recovery.
"Whilst businesses are starting to get going again now, it's going to be a long time before you see bands performing again in pubs, and any band that's involved in touring, it takes months to prepare a tour, so you're not going to see bands touring and festivals for quite some time so it's really important that JobKeeper for instance is kept going for people in our sector because they're going to be still left high and dry long after most other industries have come back online," says APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston.
